Stumbling on bird photography quite haphazardly after suffering a debilitating injury, Wisconsinite Andy Raupp was afforded a chance to immortalize an avian spectacle—recently capturing on camera a pair of female cardinals in a midair duel.
One snowy day last January, Raupp, 28, was all set up in silent mode for wildlife shooting, in his photo blind in his backyard, and was getting some nice shots of a female cardinal on a cedar branch—shocks of muted rose pastels of the bird’s beak and wings contrasting elegantly with the cool grays and dark greens of the overcast winter scenery.
Then abruptly, another flash of red upset the tranquil moment, instantly stirring a fervor of ruffled feathers into the air.
“From out of nowhere, a second female cardinal flew in and initiated a fight,” Raupp recounted to The Epoch Times. “In a split second, the two birds flew into the air and in an instant it was over.
“After the altercation between the cardinals, I quickly looked through my photos on the back of my camera and was thrilled with the images that were captured! I thought it was really amazing to see this fast action frozen in time, which is one of the many reasons I enjoy bird photography.”
With his Sony A1, at 1/4000 of a second shutter speed, the photographer was able to snap no fewer than 40 shots during the split-second encounter, showing one rather miffed-looking lady bird doling out repayment to the other for the disturbance.
“Fairly often when I photograph some of these birds, people comment and tell me they never even knew that this bird existed,” he told the newspaper. “So I have also found joy in not only photographing birds and wildlife but also sharing information and educating others about them.”
As for the two hotheaded red birds competing in his backyard, Raupp narrated the outcome of the feud in a caption in his Instagram post, where he shared his 10 favorite shots from the clash to paint a picture. “I’d say the bird that started the fight quickly regretted this decision and eventually retreated in defeat,” he captioned, jokingly adding a “?” emoji.
